Swinsto Hole to Valley Entrance

A classic sporting wet trip in the Kingsdale valley. At least, not drenchingly wet after 2025’s very dry summer, but we were all significantly soggy by the end of the day.

Before we set off, Johnny and Dino went to rig the Roof Tunnel Pitch. Having made sure we’d be able to get back out of the cave again, we followed a rough track up the side of Gragareth. Dave joined us as far as the cave entrance, carrying one of the younger unofficial club members.

Inside we quickly reached the first pitch. All of the pitches can be rigged as pull throughs for the through trip route. I was apprehensive about this as it was my first experience of pull throughs but a quick look at the knots (and a test!) made it obvious which rope to descend on. After the first pitch we got to the Long Crawl, which all the team members who had done this route before had conveniently forgotten! 300m of easy hands and knees crawling later we were back to a satisfying rhythm of following the stream over relatively easy caving, then going down a pitch, and repeating (excepting one drier section to reach Spout Pitch).

Soon we met Swinsto Great Aven and followed a route through the boulder floor back into a crawly canal which led to the Master Junction. Bartek took us on a detour to take Johnny through one of the sumps, then it was a short way down the Master Cave Stream to our ropes to ascend out by Valley Entrance.

All in all a great fun trip, particularly with low water levels! A great place to get confidence with pull-throughs.

Cavers: Bartek, Paulina, Dino, Johnny & Anne
Trip Report: Anne